See you in Beijing: MMGC Session Details

We’re getting close! Just over a month from today, the Multimedia Grand Challenge will be presented in a dynamic, American-Idol style event at ACM Multimedia 2009. The MMGC session is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009, 16:30-18:00; at the Jewel Room of the conference venue, the Beijing Hotel.

David Ayman Shamma of Yahoo! Research will be the host / master of ceremony (read: session chair) of the MMGC. There will be a panel of judges that will react and respond to the presented challenge responses. The winners of the Grand Challenge will be chosen by the judges and the crowd (details to be posted), and will be announced at the conference banquet. There will be at least one Grand Challenge winner for a prize of $1500. Other stand-out presentations may be awarded additional prizes (e.g., “most entertaining presentation” or “best response to the challenge from corporate X”).

The goal of the session is to both engage and entertain the conference attendees. The session will begin with a quick overview of the challenges, most of which will continue into the ACM MM 2010 MMGC. Then, each response will be presented in exactly three minutes. There will be a timer, and when the timer goes off, the presenter will be cut off. When we say “cut off“, we mean it: the presenter will be shut off, the screen will be turned off, the mic will be muted, and if necessary, the host will spray water like you would a cat clawing the sofa. After this spectacle, or the allocated three minutes, the panel and crowd will have exactly 2 minutes to ask additional questions. We hope that these dynamics will result in a more direct, fun, informative and interesting presentations.

See you in Beijing!